An XUV-FEL amplifier seeded using high harmonic generation

A detailed design of a free electron laser ( FEL) amplifier operating in the extreme ultra violet ( XUV) and seeded directly by a high harmonic source is presented. The design is part of the 4th generation light source ( 4GLS) facility proposed for the Daresbury Laboratory in the UK which will offer users a suite of high brightness synchronised sources from THz frequencies into the XUV. The XUV-FEL will generate photons with tunable energies from 8 to 100 eV at giga-watt peak power levels in near Fourier-transform limited pulses of variable polarisation. The designs of the high harmonic generation ( HHG) seeding, FEL amplifier and synchronising systems are presented. Numerical simulations quantify the FEL output characteristics

Time and Frequency Transfer in a Coherent Multistatic Radar using a White Rabbit Network

Networks of coherent multistatic radars require accurate and stable time and frequency transfer (TFT) for range and Doppler estimation. TFT techniques based on global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), have been favoured for several reasons, such as enabling node mobility through wireless operation, geospatial referencing, and atomic clock level time and frequency stability. However, such systems are liable to GNSS-denial, where the GNSS carrier is temporarily or permanently removed. A denial-resilient system should consider alternative TFT techniques, such as the White Rabbit (WR) project. WR is an Ethernet based protocol, that is able to synchronise thousands of nodes on a fibre-optic based network with sub-nanosecond accuracy and picoseconds of jitter. This thesis evaluates WR as the TFT network for a coherent multistatic pulse-Doppler radar – NeXtRAD. To test the hypothesis that WR is suitable for TFT in a coherent multistatic radar, the time and frequency performance of a WR network was evaluated under laboratory conditions, comparing the results against a network of multi-channel GPS-disciplined oscillators (GPSDO). A WR-disciplined oscillator (WRDO) is introduced, which has the short-term stability of an ovenised crystal (OCXO), and long-term stability of the WR network. The radar references were measured using a dual mixer time difference technique (DMTD), which allows the phase to be measured with femtosecond level resolution. All references achieved the stringent time and frequency requirements for short-term coherent bistatic operation, however the GPSDOs and WRDOs had the best short-term frequency stability. The GPSDOs had the highest amount of long-term phase drift, with a peak-peak time error of 9.6 ns, whilst the WRDOs were typically stable to within 0.4 ns, but encountered transient phase excursions to 1.5 ns. The TFT networks were then used on the NeXtRAD radar, where a lighthouse, Roman Rock, was used as a static target to evaluate the time and frequency performance of the references on a real system. The results conform well to the laboratory measurements, and therefore, WR can be used for TFT in coherent radar

Synchronising coherent networked radar using low-cost GPS-disciplined oscillators

This text evaluates the feasibility of synchronising coherent, pulsed-Doppler, networked, radars with carrier frequencies of a few gigahertz and moderate bandwidths of tens of megahertz across short baselines of a few kilometres using low-cost quartz GPSDOs based on one-way GPS time transfer. It further assesses the use of line-of-sight (LOS) phase compensation, where the direct sidelobe breakthrough is used as the phase reference, to improve the GPS-disciplined oscillator (GPSDO) synchronised bistatic Doppler performance. Coherent bistatic, multistatic, and networked radars require accurate time, frequency, and phase synchronisation. Global positioning system (GPS) synchronisation is precise, low-cost, passive and covert, and appears well-suited to synchronise networked radar. However, very few published examples exist. An imperfectly synchronised bistatic transmitter-receiver is modelled. Measures and plots are developed enabling the rapid selection of appropriate synchronisation technologies. Three low-cost, open, versatile, and extensible, quartz-based GPSDOs are designed and calibrated at zero-baselines. These GPSDOs are uniquely capable of acquiring phase-lock four times faster than conventional phase-locked loops (PLLs) and a new time synchronisation mechanism enables low-jitter sub-10 ns oneway GPS time synchronisation. In collaboration with University College London, UK, the 2.4 GHz coherent pulsed-Doppler networked radar, called NetRAD, is synchronised using the University of Cape Town developed GPSDOs. This resulted in the first published example of pulsed-Doppler phase synchronisation using GPS. A tri-static experiment is set up in Simon’s Bay, South Africa, with a maximum baseline of 2.3 km. The Roman Rock lighthouse was used as a static target to simultaneously assess the range, frequency, phase, and Doppler performance of the monostatic, bistatic, and LOS phase corrected bistatic returns. The real-world results compare well to that predicted by the earlier developed bistatic model and zero-baseline calibrations. GPS timing limits the radar bandwidth to less than 37.5 MHz when it is required to synchronise to within the range resolution. Low-cost quartz GPSDOs offer adequate frequency synchronisation to ensure a target radial velocity accuracy of better than 1 km/h and frequency drift of less than the Doppler resolution over integration periods of one second or less. LOS phase compensation, when used in combination with low-cost GPSDOs, results in near monostatic pulsed-Doppler performance with a subclutter visibility improvement of about 30 dB

Extension of the L1Calo PreProcessor System for the ATLAS Phase-I Calorimeter Trigger Upgrade

For the Run-3 data-taking period at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the hardware- based Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger (L1Calo) of the ATLAS experiment was upgraded. Through new and sophisticated algorithms, the upgrade will increase the trigger performance in a challenging, high-pileup environment while maintaining low selection thresholds. The Tile Rear Extension (TREX) modules are the latest addition to the L1Calo PreProcessor system. Hosting state-of-the-art FPGAs and high-speed optical transceivers, the TREX modules provide digitised hadronic transverse energies from the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter to the new feature extractor (FEX) processors every 25 ns. In addition, the modules are designed to maintain compatibility with the original trigger processors. The system of 32 TREX modules has been developed, produced and successfully installed in ATLAS. The thesis describes the functional implementation of the modules and the detailed integration and commissioning into the ATLAS detector

Analysis of Offset Pulse Position Modulation

This work presents the performance analysis of the offset pulse position modulation (PPM) scheme using graded-index plastic optical fibre with a Gaussian impulse response. The aim of this analysis is to predict how sensitivity, error, number of required photons, threshold voltage, and the effect of inter-symbol interference will change with the change in the number of data bits encoded at a rate of 1 Gbit/s. An information theory analysis is presented in detail and also the band-utilization efficiency is determined. Results are compared to equivalent digital PPM and multiple PPM schemes and it is also shown that offset PPM gives an advantage over on-off keying (OOK). Bit error rate (BER) analysis has been presented numerically. The errors due to different coding techniques are compared. It has also been shown that offset pulse position modulation is more power efficient than multiple pulse position modulation. The spectral analysis of offset pulse position modulation coding scheme has been carried out. For an offset PPM sequence the spectral characteristics is presented both theoretically and numerically. The results show strong frequency components at the frame rate and, if return-to-zero pulses are used, the slot rate. Slot synchronisation has been taken into consideration for the first time as offset PPM spectrum exhibits discrete slot rate component. The effect of pulse shaping and modulating index on the spectrum has been shown. The dependency of slot component on the pulse shape is examined. The results show that the frame synchronisation is possible for offset PPM as this coding exhibits a strong frame rate component. A comparison of spectral characteristics has been presented considering digital, multiple and shortened PPM. For ease of implementation an offset PPM coder has been designed. In this work an efficient clock recovery topology is presented for offset PPM data sequence at the receiver end. For clock recovery, a phase locked loop is designed. Data recovery has also been presented. It is shown that a frame clock can be extracted from the data sequence that yields the possibility of frame synchronization. A detailed noise analysis has been performed for random offset PPM input. It has been shown that the proposed clock recovery system is also effective for extracting other data sequence. To elucidate, a multiple Pulse Position Modulation (MPPM) data sequence is considered. The MPPM data sequence has also been synchronised with the recovered clock. A noise analysis is carried out for multiple PPM

Electronic Components and Systems for the Control of the LHC Machine

The present estimation of the LHC underground control electronics gives a total of 10.400 crates of which some 4.400 will be connected to the machine control network. Electronic equipment will be housed under the cryostats, along the tunnel, in the alcoves and in the galleries parallel to the machine tunnel. In the regular arcs and in the dispersion suppressers areas the radiation level is expected to be relatively low. But, despite this low radiation level, radiation tests results obtained in previous years demonstrate that all electronic equipment needs to be qualified in a test facility providing an LHC like radiation environment. The radiation qualification of all tunnel electronics is essential in order to guaranty a reliable operation over the lifetime of the machine. The object of this paper is to give a review of the various electronic systems as they are planned today and to provide simulation results concerning the radiation environment of the CERN on-line test facility used for qualification of electronic component and systems. This paper is an update and an extension of the presentation made at the 5th Workshop on Electronics for LHC Experiments held in Snowmass in September 1999

An investigation of frequency scanning interferometery for the alignment of the ATLAS semiconductor tracker

The relative alignment of the silicon detector modules of the ATLAS semiconductor tracker will need remote monitoring during operation, within a high radiation environment. A geodetic grid of distance measurement fibre-coupled interferometers will monitor changes in the shape of the support structure. Eight hundred fibre-coupled grid line interferometers (GLIs) will be compared simultaneously to a stable, evacuated reference interferometer using Frequency Scanning Interferometry (FSI). The GLIs, (from 70 mm to 1400mm long, with pW level return signals) must be measured to a precision of 1 micron, to reconstruct the grid shape, in three dimensions, to a precision of 10 microns. In this work two important limitations were overcome: 1. Inflated errors due to relative interferometer drift were significantly reduced using two lasers scanned in opposite directions. 2. The fine tuning range was effectively extended by linking the phase information in two 30 GHz fine tuning subscans, separated by a 3.5 THz coarse tuning interval. A demonstration system was built using tunable laser diodes operating at wavelengths close to 836 nm. Several different fibre coupled GLIs were built. Each was measured against an invar reference interferometer sharing the same laboratory air. The 400 mm GLI was measured to a (one standard deviation) precision of 120 nm and a 1195 nm GLI to a precision of 215 nm. Decreasing the GLI signal was not found to significantly degrade the measurement precision. Spurious reflections and vibrations were separately introduced to degrade the measurements. The errors were found to increase, with errors larger than 4 parts per million, observed for vibrations of 400 nm peak to peak amplitude. Suggestions are given for reducing remaining errors. Further investigations into the effects of vibrations and spurious reflections are recommended

Timing Signals and Radio Frequency Distribution Using Ethernet Networks for High Energy Physics Applications

Timing networks are used around the world in various applications from telecommunications systems to industrial processes, and from radio astronomy to high energy physics. Most timing networks are implemented using proprietary technologies at high operation and maintenance costs. This thesis presents a novel timing network capable of distributed timing with subnanosecond accuracy. The network, developed at CERN and codenamed “White- Rabbit”, uses a non-dedicated Ethernet link to distribute timing and data packets without infringing the sub-nanosecond timing accuracy required for high energy physics applications. The first part of this thesis proposes a new digital circuit capable of measuring time differences between two digital clock signals with sub-picosecond time resolution. The proposed digital circuit measures and compensates for the phase variations between the transmitted and received network clocks required to achieve the sub-nanosecond timing accuracy. Circuit design, implementation and performance verification are reported. The second part of this thesis investigates and proposes a new method to distribute radio frequency (RF) signals over Ethernet networks. The main goal of existing distributed RF schemes, such as Radio-Over-Fibre or Digitised Radio-Over-Fibre, is to increase the bandwidth capacity taking advantage of the higher performance of digital optical links. These schemes tend to employ dedicated and costly technologies, deemed unnecessary for applications with lower bandwidth requirements. This work proposes the distribution of RF signals over the “White-Rabbit” network, to convey phase and frequency information from a reference base node to a large numbers of remote nodes, thus achieving high performance and cost reduction of the timing network. Hence, this thesis reports the design and implementation of a new distributed RF system architecture; analysed and tested using a purpose-built simulation environment, with results used to optimise a new bespoke FPGA implementation. The performance is evaluated through phase-noise spectra, the Allan-Variance, and signalto- noise ratio measurements of the distributed signals

Development of a Full-Field Time-of-Flight Range Imaging System

A full-field, time-of-flight, image ranging system or 3D camera has been developed from a proof-of-principle to a working prototype stage, capable of determining the intensity and range for every pixel in a scene. The system can be adapted to the requirements of various applications, producing high precision range measurements with sub-millimetre resolution, or high speed measurements at video frame rates. Parallel data acquisition at each pixel provides high spatial resolution independent of the operating speed. The range imaging system uses a heterodyne technique to indirectly measure time of flight. Laser diodes with highly diverging beams are intensity modulated at radio frequencies and used to illuminate the scene. Reflected light is focused on to an image intensifier used as a high speed optical shutter, which is modulated at a slightly different frequency to that of the laser source. The output from the shutter is a low frequency beat signal, which is sampled by a digital video camera. Optical propagation delay is encoded into the phase of the beat signal, hence from a captured time variant intensity sequence, the beat signal phase can be measured to determine range for every pixel in the scene. A direct digital synthesiser (DDS) is designed and constructed, capable of generating up to three outputs at frequencies beyond 100 MHz with the relative frequency stability in excess of nine orders of magnitude required to control the laser and shutter modulation. Driver circuits were also designed to modulate the image intensifier photocathode at 50 Vpp, and four laser diodes with a combined power output of 320 mW, both over a frequency range of 10-100 MHz. The DDS, laser, and image intensifier response are characterised. A unique method of measuring the image intensifier optical modulation response is developed, requiring the construction of a pico-second pulsed laser source. This characterisation revealed deficiencies in the measured responses, which were mitigated through hardware modifications where possible. The effects of remaining imperfections, such as modulation waveform harmonics and image intensifier irising, can be calibrated and removed from the range measurements during software processing using the characterisation data. Finally, a digital method of generating the high frequency modulation signals using a FPGA to replace the analogue DDS is developed, providing a highly integrated solution, reducing the complexity, and enhancing flexibility. In addition, a novel modulation coding technique is developed to remove the undesirable influence of waveform harmonics from the range measurement without extending the acquisition time. When combined with a proposed modification to the laser illumination source, the digital system can enhance range measurement precision and linearity. From this work, a flexible full-field image ranging system is successfully realised. The system is demonstrated operating in a high precision mode with sub-millimetre depth resolution, and also in a high speed mode operating at video update rates (25 fps), in both cases providing high (512 512) spatial resolution over distances of several metres